OVO Announces "Half-Price" Anytime EV Tariff

Electric vehicle drivers will soon be able to sign up for a specialised tariff, offering “half-price” anytime charging, from the UK’s second-largest energy supplier.

OVO Energy’s new tariff will charge a flat rate of 6p per kilowatt-hour of electricity for EV charging, half its usual rate, no matter when drivers choose to refuel their vehicles. 

In launching the Drive Anytime tariff, OVO is taking on other suppliers’ “time of use” tariffs, which charge electric vehicle drivers cut-price rates only overnight, when electricity demand is lowest. These off-peak rates range from 4.5p/kWh from EDF and 10.44p/kWh from E.ON but typically only apply after midnight and before 7:30 am.

Drivers who need to recharge during the day pay standard prices, which range from 14.3p/kWh from EDF and 19.5p/kWh from British Gas, according to data from Zapmap.

OVO’s “type of use” tariff will charge less than half the typical electricity rate from competitors and not impose limits on when drivers can charge by automatically charging vehicles when prices fall. When prices rise again, electricity can be sent back to the grid from the batteries of EVs sitting idle.

The energy company’s tech arm, Kaluza, has used algorithms to model patterns of electricity consumption and demand and customer behaviour and says it will have more than enough idle EVs to recruit as batteries to balance the grid, even if individual customers are charging or driving during those times.

Customers will be able to set when they need their vehicle to be fully charged or override Kaluza’s software to charge at short-notice—without increasing the rate they pay for power.

Marzia Zafar, head of strategy at Kaluza, said the software will give EV drivers “the energy they need, precisely when they need it, at the lowest environmental impact, and now at a guaranteed price that saves them money.”

OVO predicts that customers on the new tariff will reduce their EV charging costs by 60%, saving £200 a year, without changing their behaviour.

“Electric vehicles and renewable energy are the perfect companions for a zero-carbon world, but we have got to demonstrate that they can be easier and cheaper, as well as greener,” Zafar said.